Trimming mechanism for brick machines



Dec. 15 1925- 1,565,739

G. B, HANEY TRIMMING HECX'XANISM FOR BRICK MACHINES Filed Feb. 29. 19243-Sheecs-Sheet 1 INVENTOR W 5/) walk M Z Dec. 15 1925- 1,565,739

G. B. HANEY TRIMMING MECHANISM FOR BRICK MACHINES Filed Feb. 29. 1924 5Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 15, 1925- G. B. HANEY TRIMMING MECHANISM FOR BRICKMACHINES 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Feb. 29.

60 J g- Q J1 64 t: INVENTOR WITNESSESS mm 8/ g 1 7 Patented Dec. 15,1925.

PATENT OFFICE.

UNITED STATES GEORGE B. 'HANEY, OF ASHLAND, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR TOASHLAND FIRE BRICK COMPANY, OF ASHLAND, KENTUCKY, A CORPORATION OFKENTUCKY.

TRIMMING MECHANISM FOR BRICK MACHINES.

Application filed February 29, 1924. Serial No. 695,928.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE B. HANEY, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Ashland, in the county of Boyd and State of Kentucky, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Trimming Mechanism for BrickMachines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates generally to brick making machinery comprising apress and a repress associated with a'n interposed sizing device ortrimmer, and particularly to a new and improved form of trimmingmechanism together with its association with the press or repress.

It is an object to provide a brick trimming mechanism which is simpleand sturdy in construction, which will not easily get out of order,which is economical to install, which will operate in an efficientmanner and which can be attached to the brick presses already in use orfurnished as a part of their initial equipment.

It is a special object to provide a trimmer which effects the sizing ofthebricks by removal of the material from the bottom faces thereof, thechips removed being directly discharged downwardly through an opening inthe table of the press.

It is also a special object to provide a trimmer of the characterreferred to which automatically adjusts itself to the required conditionfor trimming bricks to a predetermined size regardless of theirthickness when fed to the trimmer, and which can be readily set toproduce trimmed bricks 0 different thicknesses, as desired.

A further special object is to provide a trimming mechanism soassociated with the table of the press in a unique manner whereby theusual pull-over devices for feeding the bricks into the press will alsoserve to force the bricks through the trimmer.

A still further object is to provide a novel form of trimmer having alifting element rigidly but adjustably connected to the cutting elementwhereby the two move in bodily unison, in which theyare so associatedwith the press table as to elevate the cutting element in accordancewith variations in the thickness of the brick fed to the press, andwhich simultaneously andproportionately varies the size of the escapeopening for the chips according to the quantity removed. I

partly in section, illustrating the association of the trimmer with thereceiving end of'the repress, and involving one embodiment of theinvention; Fig. 2 a side elevation of the mechanism shown in Fig. l, thereceiving table of the repress and the trim mer being illustrated insection, said section being taken substantially on the line II-II ofFig. 1; Fig. 3 a fragmentary elevation showing the delivery end of thepress and the mounting of the trimming mechanism upon the receivingtable of the repress; Fig. 4 a sectional view taken substantially on theline I VIV of Fig. 2; Fig. 5 a view similar to Fig. 4 showing a modifiedform of the invention comprising but a single lifting roller; and Fig. 6a detail perspective view of-a pair of plates forming a part of theadjustable bearings for the shaft of the lifting roller, together withthe guide plate carried thereby.

In the drawings, P, P, and T, represent generally the delivery end ofthe press, the repress, and trimmer mechanism, respectively. All ofthese mechanisms are suitably mounted .upon any desirable support orfloor and are successively arranged in relation to each other in themanner shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Both the press and the repress, except in so far as they areparticularly arranged with relation to the remaining parts, and ashereinafter described in detail, are of a conventional standard form ofconstruction now upon the market. For this reason, the entire detailedconstruction of the presses will not be set forth, both their structureand mode of operation being well known to those familiar with the art,and is apparent from the drawings.

For the. purposes of this invention, it is suflicient to describe thatthe press is provided at its discharge end with a discharge conveyorbelt 1 which delivers the bricks from the press to an inclined guideplate 2 which in turn delivers them upon the receiving table or apron 3of the repress, the table in the present instance being provided with arectangular opening 3 extending therethrough. The bricks are depositedupon the table 3 in a position in advance of the transverse feed bar 4of apull-over so as to be caught by the feed bar and delivered into therepress. A pair of bricks in position upon the table 3 to be caught bythe transverse portion a of the pull-over are indicated at 5, 5, in Fig.1 of the drawings. The pull-over shown is a conventional standard formwell known to those familiar with the art, and is adapted to be actuatedin timed relation with the press by any suitable mechanism. In the formillustrated, the pull-over is adapted to be actuated by the bars orlinks 6, 6, which are pivotally connected to the pull-over at the points7, 7, respectively, and the pull-over is guided in its reciprocatingmovement in predetermined spaced relation to the table by having itsside portions 8, 8 underlying the guiding ribs 9, 9', respectively, thebottom face of the intermediate portion of the pull-over being disposedsomewhat above the upper surface of the table 3. After the bricks areacted upon by the repress P, the same are delivered upon the dischargebelt 10 and conveyed to suitable receiving devices, in accordance withthe usual practice in this art.

The trimmer comprises a main guiding frame attached to the marginalportions of the table 3, at opposite sides of the opening 3, and asliding frame carrying the cutting element mounted for verticalreciprocation in the guide frame. The guiding frame consists of uprightstandards 11, 12, connected adjacent their upper ends by the straps 13,14:, and adjacent their lower ends by the straps 15, 16. The oppositeside of the guide frame is similarly constructed and the severalstandards and straps are indicated in the drawings by the same referencenumerals with the addition of an exponent The guide frame isstrengthened and braced at its upper portion by a bar 17 the oppositeends of which are rigidly held between the straps 13, 1 1, 13, 1 1, andlikewise the bottom portion of the guiding frame is equipped with atransverse bar or brace 18.

The standards 11, 12, 11, 12 are rigidly attached to the sides of thetable 3 by means of the angle members a, a, and extend substantiallyvertically thus providing guide openings thcrebetween in which the sideportions of the sliding frame carrying the lifting 'roller and cuttingknife may be mounted for vertical reciprocating movement. The sidemember of the sliding frame located within the space between thestandards 11 and 12 is indicated at 19 and that between thecorresponding standards at the opposite side of the machine at 19, eachof these side members of the sliding frame being equipped with anelongated slot il -(ll:-

position the straps 23, 21,

cated at 20 and 20, respectively. The member 19 is maintained inoperative engagement with the standards 11 and 12 by means of the straps21, 22 at its upper end, and by the straps 23, 24: at its lower end, allof these straps being attached to the member 19 but having their endsextending sufliciently far to lie at the opposite sides of the standards11 and 12, all as clearly shown in the drawings. Likewise the side framemember 19 is equipped with the straps 2124E.

Attached to the sliding frame members 19 and 19 are the inwardlyextending brackets 25 and 25, from which depend the re spective bearingbrackets 26, 26, each of the members 26, 26 being provided with anelongated slot similar in all respects to the slots 20, 29. The shaft27, provided with the lifting roller 28, carries at its opposite endsthe adjustable bearings indicated generally at 29 and which areadjustably mounted within the elongated slots of the members 1.9 and 26,respectively. Similarly the shaft 27, carrying the lifting roller 28, isjournalled by means of the adjustable bearings 29, 30, cooperating withthe slots in the members 19 and 26, respectively. By means of theadjustable bearings provided for the several shafts of the liftingrollers, these may be bodily adjusted to various heights in the sidemembers o the sliding frame.

Also attached to the sliding frame below the table 3 is a cross brace34. This cross brace may be fixed to the sliding frame in any desirablemanner, and as illustrated has its opposite extremities bent angularlyas shown at 35, these extremities being riveted to the sliding frame.Cross brace 34- has rigidly attached thereto a pair of knife supports36, 36. Each of these knife supports is shaped as illustrated in 2 ofthe drawings, having the depending skirt portion 37 which is riveted tothe cross brace, and a horizontally flanged portion 38 which lies withinthe opening 3 when the sliding frame is in its lowermost position, as inFig. 2, the parts being so associated that in this 23 and 24f. of thesliding frame are adapted to rest upon and contact the straps 15, 16, 1516 of the main guide frame. vEach knife carrier is equipped with aforwardly projecting ledge adjacent the juncture between the parts 37and 38 providing a shouldered recess for receiving a cutting knife 40.Knife 40 may be attached to the ledge in any desirable way, such as byriveting, as illustrated. The forward cutting edge of the knife when thesliding frame is in its lowermost position lies substantially flush withthe upper surface of the table 3 and adjacent the portion of the tablebounding the opening 3.

Also carried by the sliding frame, and

the opening attached to the adjustable bearings for the shafts 27 and 27are the guide plates 41 and 4:1". The lower surfabes of the guide plateslie substantially flush with the lower portions of the guide rollers,one method of attaching the guide plate to the portions of theadjustable bearings for the lifting roller is illustrated in Fig. 6.,

In order to. counter-balance the sliding frame, together with theseveral parts car ried thereby, the levers 42 and 42 are pro vided. Eachof these levers is pivoted, as indicated at 43, to the table of thepress and has one end attached to the sliding frame asat 44: while itsopposite end carriesan adjustable weight 45. I a

It is particularly pointed out that the shafts of the lifting rollersdirectly overlie the portions of the table 3 in advance of 3 andforwardly of the cutting edges of the knives 40 so that the body of thebricks forced through the trimming mechanism is first caused toc-ontact..the rollers while being firmly supported by the tahleandbefore being brought into cutting relation with the knives, and that thelifting rollers, cutting knives and guide plates move bodily as a unit.

In the modified form of the invention shown in Fig. 5 instead ofemploying a pair of lifting rollers, a pair of cutting knives, and apair of guide plates, such as previously described, when the trimmer isto be used in conjunction with a pressor repress, which acts upon asingle brick at a time, instead of a pair of bricks as in the preferredform, but a single lifting roller 50.need be employed. In this instance,the roller 50 is made ofsuflicient length to substantially bridge theopening 3 through the table and the opposite ends of its shaft 51 are,journalled by means of the adjustable bearings 52, 52 directly withinthe side members of the sliding frame. Likewise the knife car riercorresponds to the width of the opening in the receiving table, as doesthe knife carried thereby, and the single guide plate employed isattached to the inner portions of the bearings 52, 52 In other respects,the structure of the modification of Fig. 5 corresponds to that pointedout in connection with the form shown in Figs. 1 to 4;.

In operation, the bricks from the press are delivered by the conveyorbelt 1 to the incline 2 and slide downwardly upon the table 3 in advanceof the cross bar 4 of the pull. over mechanism of the repress P. Theordinary reciprocating movement of the pullover towards the repressforces the bricks to move into contact with the lifting rollers whichare caused to ride upwardly under the pressure exerted by the brick theheight to which they rise depending entirely upon the thickness of thebricks delivered-v Rising movement of the lifting rollers due to theirattachment to the sliding frame in turn causes the cutting elements orknives 40 to be elevated above the upper surface of the receiving table,and as the bricks are drawn towards the press by the pull-over, arebrought into cutting relation with the knives which effect trimmingthereof at their botlower faces of the bricks is dependent upon thewidth of the space'between the lower edge of the lifting rollers and thecutting edge of the knives 40, and since the shafts for the liftingrollers are freely adjustable to various vertical positions within the;

sliding frame, the trimmer may be set to ob tain trimmed bricks of thedesired thick ness. During the forcing of the bricks through the trimmerthe entire sliding frame including the lifting rollers, the cuttingknives and the guide plates reciprocate bodlly as a unit, and thepressure exerted upon the upper faces of'the bricks may be adjustedtooany desired extent by moving the counter-balanclng weights 45 alongthe levers a2, 42.

It. is again particularly noted that the cutting edges of the knives liesomewhat rearwardly of the axis of the lifting rollers, so that theportion of the table 3 in advance of the opening 3 serves as aneffective rigid support for the bricks asthey are fed into cuttingrelation with the knives. It is also noted-that as the knivesare liftedabove the upper surface of the table 3, the effective size of theopening for the escape of the removed chips is made larger.Consequently, the size of the escape opening for the chips isautomatically regulated in accordance with the amount of material it isnecessary to remove from the bricks in order to reduce them to thedesired thickness.

Although the invention is particularly designed and intended to be usedin association with the receiving table of a repress for trimming orsizing bricks which have been delivered from the press for subsequentaction in the repress, it is obvious that under some conditions it maybe desirable to employ the trimming mechanism otherwise thanspecifically set forth, as with a single press, and it is therefore notintended to limit the invention beyond that particularly pointed out anddefined by the appended claims.

. It is thus seen that the invention provides a simple, sturdy andeffective means for trimming bricks, and one which may be ap plied topresses already in use or furnished as part of their initial equipment,one in which the cutting knives remove the material from the bottomfaces of the bricks and in accordance with the thickness of the bricksde sired, one which may be readily adjusted to secure trimmed bricks ofvarious thicknesses, and one which is associated with the receivingtable of the press in such manner that the size of the escape openingfor the discharge of the chips removed from the bricks is automaticallyadjusted in accordance with the amount of material removed.

I claim:

1. In combination with a press having a feed table and means for feedingthe bricks into the press, of a trimmer mounted on the table, thetrimmer being so disposed rela tively to the press and table that thesaid feeding means forces the bricks through the trimmer prior toreaching the press and during its continued movement in the samedirection to the press.

2. The combination of a brick press, a trimmer for sizing the bricksdelivered thereto, and a single means for forcing the bricks during itscontinued movement in the same direction through the trimmer into thepress.

3. The combination of a brick press, a table at the inlet side thereof,a reciprocating cutting element supported on the table, and areciprocating feed bar for forcing the bricks past the cutting elementinto the press.

l. The combination of a brick press, a table at the inlet side thereofprovided with an opening extending therethrough, a knife mounted forvertical reciprocating movement through the said opening, and feedingmeans for moving the bricks past the knife in to the press.

5. The combination of a brick press, a table at the inlet side thereofprovided with an opening extending therethrough, a knife mounted forvertical reciprocating movement through the said opening, a bodilymovable lifting member connected to the knife and located above thetable, and means for forcing bricks between the said member and knife.

6. The combination of a brick press, a

table at the inlet side thereof provided with an opening extendingtherethrough, a knife mounted for vertical reciprocating movementthrough the said opening, a bodily movable lifting roller operativelyconnected to but spaced from the knife, and means for forcing bricksthrough the space between the roller and knife.

7. The combination of a brick press, a table at the inlet side thereofprovided with an opening extending therethrough, a knife mounted forvertical reciprocating movement through the said opening, a bodilymovable lifting roller operatively connected to butspaced from theknife, means for selectively varying the distance between the roller andknife, and means for forcing the brick between the roller and knife andfeeding them into the press.

8. The combination of a brick press, a table at the inlet side thereofprovided with an openlng extending therethrough, a knife mounted forvertical reciprocating movement through the said opening, a bodilymovable lifting roller operatively connected tobut spaced from theknife, the axis of the said roller overlying the table in advance of theopening therein, and means for forcing bricks through the space betweenthe roller and knife.

9. The combination of a brick press, a table at the inlet side thereofprovided with an opening extending therethrough, a knife mounted forvertical reciprocating movement through the said opening, a bodilymovable lifting roller, means for selectively varying the distancebetween the roller and knife, and means for forcing the brick betweenthe roller and knife and feeding them nto the press, the axis of saidroller overlymg the table in advance of the opening therein and meansfor forcing bricks through the space between the roller and knife.

10. The combination of a brick press, a feed table at the inlet sidethereof provided with an openmg, a guide frame supported on the table, asliding frame mounted in said guide frame and carrying a cutting elementrigidly attached thereto adapted to pass through the said opening, andmeans for forcing bricks through the frames into contact with the saidcutting element.

11. The combination of a brick press, a feed table at the inlet sidethereof provided with an opening. a guide frame supported on the table,a sliding frame mounted in said guide frame and carrying a cuttingelement rigidly attached thereto adapted to pass through the saidopening, and means for forcing bricks through the frames into contactwith the said cutting element, and a weighted lever pivoted to the tableand connected to the sliding frame.

12. The combination of a brick press, a feed table at the inlet sidethereof provided with an opening, a guide frame supported on the table,a sliding frame mounted for vertical reciprocating movement in the guideframe, a knife fixed to the sliding frame disposed within the saidopening, a lifting roller journalled in the sliding frame and spacedfrom the said knife, and a transverse reciprocating bar for feedingbricks between the roller and knife into the press.

13. The combination of a brick press, a feed table at the inlet sidethereof provided with an opening, a guide frame supported on the table,a sliding frame mounted for vertical reciprocating movement in the guideframe, aknife fixed to the sliding frame disposed vvithin the saidopening, a lifting roller having its shaft journalled in the slidingframe and spaced from the said knife, said shaft being adjusta-blymounted in the sliding frame whereby to vary the width of the spacebetween the roller and knife, and a transverse reciprocating bar forforcing bricks throughthe said space.

14. The combination of abrick press, a trimming mechanism including acutter, and means for forcing bricks through the said mechanism over thesaid cutter whereby to remove material from the entire bottom surfacesof the bricks.

15. The combination of a brick press, a repress, means for conveyingbricks from the press to the repress, and means for removing materialfrom the entire extent of the under sides of the bricks during theirpassage from the press to the repress Whereby to size the same.

16. The combination of a press, a repress spaced therefrom, a trimmingmechanism provided with a cutter interposed therebetween, and means forconveying bricks from the press to the repress through the trimmingmechanism over the said cutter Whereby to size the bricks by removingmaterial from the entire bottom surfaces thereof.

17. The combination of a press, a repress spaced therefrom, a trimmingmechanism having a cutting knife, means for receiving bricks from thepress and feeding them through the trimming mechanism into the repress,said cutting knife lying below the path of travel of said bricks anddisposed so as to remove a portion of the material of the bricks fromtheir entire bottom surfaces during passage through the trimmingmechanism.

In testimony whereof, I sign my name.

GEORGE B. HANEY.

